Friedlander: AB 12 will aid kids and caregivers

Although we don’t know all the details in the tragic death of 8-year-old Alaina Stockdill, it’s been stated that at times in her life her grandparents had primary custody.

Known as Kinship Care, placing children with a relative such as an aunt, uncle, sibling or grandparent has become a preferred practice with children in the child welfare system as well as in more “informal” arrangements created by the families. In 2000, the U.S. Census revealed that Ventura County had more than 4,000 grandparents as primary caregivers. It is expected that number will go up considerably when the 2010 census information is available.

More than 90 percent of relative caregivers are grandparents. Grandparents need support services since parenting again usually requires a total change in lifestyle and they are usually helping the child deal with loss, the mental health and/or substance abuse issues of the parents. These caregivers need resources like support groups, workshops, respite care and advocacy with schools, doctors, lawyers and the court. Grandparents are often taking on the role of caregiver at great personal sacrifice to their own physical, emotional and financial health.

Several years ago, Ventura County Children and Family Services had the foresight and insight to apply for limited funding through the state of California (only 18 counties are funded) to provide support services to our county’s kinship families — both those in the formal foster care system and placed with relatives and those where the county was not involved in the placement with relatives but arranged by the families (overwhelmingly the majority).

Kinship providers, especially grandparents, have unique challenges often dealing with loss, grief, shame, health issues and fixed incomes as well as educational and legal concerns for the relative children in their care. Unfortunately, like so many others, this funding is at great risk due to the state’s fiscal crisis.

For a not-for-profit organization such as the one that I represent and one that has contracts at the state and county level, this becomes increasingly grave as a 10 percent or 20 percent cut in the programs becomes a 20 percent to 40 percent by the time the budget has passed — as half of the contract period will already have lapsed! This means devastating cuts to an already distressed program.

However, there is an opportunity for some help if we act soon. Currently, Assembly Bill 12, the California Fostering Connections to Success Act is on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s desk for his signature. The bill has bipartisan support and will draw down federal money, estimated at $50 million annually, and builds on the success of California’s Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program by offering children the stability of living with their relatives, outside the foster care system.

AB 12 also includes other components which will have dramatic support for youth who have to exit the foster care system at age 18. Most often these youth have experienced trauma and have had multiple foster care placements, many of which are with caregivers and not foster parents. Every year in California, approximately 4,000 youth are dropped out of the foster care system at 18 years old with no legal or emotional permanency/connections.

About 50 to 60 of these youths are in Ventura County. All of these kids have a 70 percent chance of being homeless for one or more nights, they have a 50 percent chance of being the victims of or committing a violent act and they are more likely to be young parents —starting the cycle all over again. These kids are alone and have limited job skills, limited life skills and frequently end up incarcerated or on the streets as drug-and-alcohol-addicted individuals. Many foster youth find themselves alone and without any support during this important time of their life.

AB 12 includes a component that will provide the county the ability to extend benefits for foster youth, whether through the courts or unofficially through caregivers beyond the age of 18.

It is too late to support the grandparents or other possible family caregivers for Alaina, but insuring the passage of this bill would certainly acknowledge, better prepare and support other kinship caregivers to nurture their relative children, keeping them safe and healthy.

Please, research AB 12 and send Gov. Schwarzenegger your feedback.

— David Friedlande is executive director of Kids & Families Together, a Ventura County not-for-profit support, education and counseling resource center that provides services for individuals and families in foster care, kinship care and adoption, for the preservation of families and the physical, emotional and mental health of children. Its website is http://www.kidsandfamilies.org.